Is moving from Boston, MA to Richmond, VA worth it financially?

On these numbers, no — not at the salary the job usually pays. $102,000 in Boston leaves you $3,779 a month; $78,000 in Richmond leaves $3,398, which is $381 less. It turns into a raise at $86,000.

What salary do you need in Richmond to match Boston?

About $86,000 a year. That is the salary that leaves you the same $3,779 a month in Richmond, at $1,500 rent and 5.75% state income tax, that $102,000 leaves you in Boston today.

Is Richmond cheaper than Boston?

On the two costs that move most, yes. Rent runs about $1,500 against $2,475, a difference of $975 a month. State income tax is higher: 5.75% against 5%.

Does Virginia have a state income tax?

Yes. About 5.75% as an effective rate for a single filer on a middle income, which on $78,000 works out to $374 a month. That is not the top bracket and it does not include city or county taxes.

What does the same job pay in Richmond?

About $78,000, against $102,000 in Boston — the same role scaled by what each metro typically pays. Use it to sanity-check an offer, not to set your ask.

Boston, MA to Richmond, VA

Richmond has to pay $86,000 to match what Boston leaves you.

On $102,000 in Boston, with rent at $2,475, you keep $3,779 a month once tax and rent are out. The same job in Richmond typically pays $78,000; at $1,500 rent that leaves $3,398.

Left in Boston: $3,779a month, after tax and rent
Left in Richmond: $3,398a month, on a typical offer
Difference: −$381$4,569 a year
Richmond break-even: $86,000$8,000 above the typical offer

Your numbers, not these ones

Where you are

5% state income tax

Salary

$/yr

Rent

$/mo

Where you're thinking

5.75% state income tax

Salary

$/yr

Rent

$/mo

Boston

$8,500 gross

Tax: $2,246
Rent: $2,475
Yours: $3,779

Left each month

$3,779

Richmond

$6,500 gross

Tax: $1,602
Rent: $1,500
Yours: $3,398

Left each month

$3,398

What Richmond has to pay

$86,000a year

The salary that leaves you what Boston leaves you now, at $1,500 rent.

At $78,000 you land $381 a month short, about $4,569 a year. That is the gap an offer has to close.

See who’s paying it in Richmond

An estimate, not advice. Single filer, standard deduction, 2026federal brackets and 7.65% payroll; state rates are approximate effective rates. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents for a one-bedroom (FY2026) — the 40th percentile of gross rent, utilities included — and pay is scaled by each metro’s all-occupations mean wage from the BLS (OEWS, May 2025). Both are measured for the whole metro, not your neighbourhood or your job. Your actual position depends on your filing status, deductions, benefits and local taxes. Check real listings and a tax professional before you decide anything.

The difference, taken apart

Four lines, and they sum to −$381.

Monthly difference between Boston, MA and Richmond, VA, broken into gross pay, federal tax and payroll, state income tax and rent.
What moves	Effect on what you keep each month
Gross pay$6,500 against $8,500 a month	−$2,000
Federal tax and payroll$1,228 against $1,821	+$593
State income tax$374 against $425	+$51
Rent$1,500 against $2,475	+$975
Left each month, Richmond against Boston	−$381

Where the difference comes from

Four things move between Boston and Richmond, and they do not move together. Pay is the largest of them here: worth $1,407 a month against you.

The shape is the familiar one — smaller offer, cheaper rent — and here it does not come out. Pay drops $2,000 a month gross; rent gives back $975. The rest is the gap.

The tax

Virginia charges 5.75% against Massachusetts’s 5%, so this move costs you -$51 a month in state tax alone.

Those are approximate effective rates for a single filer on a middle income in 2026, not top brackets, and they ignore city and county taxes. Boston and Richmond may both charge you something local that is not counted here.

The rent

A one-bedroom runs about $1,500 in Richmond against $2,475 in Boston — $975 a month, $11,700 a year. Rent is the largest thing you can actually change by moving, and it is why the smaller offer can still be the better one.

Both figures are HUD Fair Market Rents for a one-bedroom, FY2026 — the 40th percentile of gross rent with utilities in it, so four in ten one-bedrooms in each metro go for less. They are measured across the whole metro, which means a suburb carries its metro's number. A search on any listings site for the neighbourhoods you would actually live in will still beat them, and it takes ten minutes.

What the job pays

The same work pays about 24% less in Richmond: $78,000 against $102,000. That is not a negotiating failure, it is the local market — and it is the number most people leave out when they picture the move, because rent is easy to look up and salary bands are not.

Both figures are bands, not offers: a salary scaled by each metro's all-occupations mean wage from the BLS, May 2025. That measures every job in the metro rather than yours, so it tells you what the local market pays in general, not what you would be offered. The $102,000 this page opens on is a typical salary for Boston and it is almost certainly not yours — put your own into the calculator above and the whole comparison re-runs on it.

What this leaves out

It is about 470 miles between them. Nothing above counts what the move itself costs: the truck, the deposit, the overlap in rent, the weeks between the last paycheque and the first one.

Nor does it count sales tax, property tax, car insurance, utilities, childcare or health cover, all of which move between Massachusetts and Virginia. The figures here are federal tax, payroll, state income tax and rent — the four that decide most of it, and the four that can be computed rather than guessed.

The number to negotiate

Richmond has to pay $86,000 a year to leave you exactly what Boston leaves you now, at $1,500 rent. The typical offer there is $78,000, so the gap is $8,000.

That is a number to take into a conversation, not a reason to stop. It is also usually smaller than it looks: $8,000 on a $78,000 base is a 10% ask, and the difference between two offers in the same city is routinely wider than that.

Boston, MA to Richmond, VA, in short.

Is moving from Boston, MA to Richmond, VA worth it financially?: On these numbers, no — not at the salary the job usually pays. $102,000 in Boston leaves you $3,779 a month; $78,000 in Richmond leaves $3,398, which is $381 less. It turns into a raise at $86,000.
What salary do you need in Richmond to match Boston?: About $86,000 a year. That is the salary that leaves you the same $3,779 a month in Richmond, at $1,500 rent and 5.75% state income tax, that $102,000 leaves you in Boston today.
Is Richmond cheaper than Boston?: On the two costs that move most, yes. Rent runs about $1,500 against $2,475, a difference of $975 a month. State income tax is higher: 5.75% against 5%.
Does Virginia have a state income tax?: Yes. About 5.75% as an effective rate for a single filer on a middle income, which on $78,000 works out to $374 a month. That is not the top bracket and it does not include city or county taxes.
What does the same job pay in Richmond?: About $78,000, against $102,000 in Boston — the same role scaled by what each metro typically pays. Use it to sanity-check an offer, not to set your ask.

The number to beat

$86,000a year

What Richmond has to pay before the move stops costing you money. The typical offer is $78,000, so there is $8,000 to find — and somebody in Richmond is paying it.

See who’s paying it in Richmond Build a plan for the move

Leaving Boston for somewhere else

Arriving in Richmond from somewhere else

Every comparison, by the city you are leaving

An estimate, not advice. Single filer, standard deduction, 2026 federal brackets and 7.65% payroll; state rates are approximate effective rates and rents are typical one-bedroom asking prices. Salary bands are scaled from a national baseline by what the same job tends to pay in each metro. Your actual position depends on your filing status, deductions, benefits and local taxes. Check real listings and a tax professional before you decide anything.